A Family of Failures

Because even Jesus struggled with His family...a letter to my boys and a reminder that God can use anyone...

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:

² Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

³ Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,

⁴ Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,

⁵ Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,

⁶ and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

⁷ Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,

⁸ Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

⁹ Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

¹⁰ Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,

¹¹ and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

¹² After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

¹³ Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,

Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,

¹⁴ Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Eliud,

¹⁵ Eliud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,

¹⁶ and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.  Matthew 1:1-16

Dear Zach and Noah-

You are probably wondering why in the world I would share Jesus' genealogy with you.  They don't seem like very inspiring verses, now do they?  But look closely at Jesus' family...you will find a liar or two (Abraham and Isaac), a man that sold his brother into slavery (Judah), a prostitute (Rahab), an adulterer and a murderer (David), and a few bad kings.  And that is only the list for those that we know about!  I used to think that I lived in a perfect family. To be honest, I had a little bit of pride thinking my family was better than most.  Through the years, God taught me the hard lesson that no family is perfect and especially mine!  Even Jesus had issues with his family!!  We live in a world of sin, therefore all families are dysfunctional on some level.  I am praying that we have broken the cycle of dysfunction for the most part and not passed it on to you. I have so wanted to let you escape the turmoil I have lived through, but I know the reality.  The reality of Jesus' family.  The reality of every family.  We will pass it on to you. Actually, we already have in the form of a sin nature. So I pray and hope that through the dysfunction you will see Jesus...because after all isn't that what this genealogy is all about?  To see Jesus at the end of it all.

With Love,
Mom